Through all this death, we are life.

The next morning, Molly awoke to Henry’s gentle kisses on her face. He was leaning over her in bed, nuzzling her throat.

“Henry…” she breathed, reaching up and cradling his head with her hands.

“Mmm, good morning, Molly…” he answered, placing a tender kiss on her lips.

“It’s early, isn’t it?”

Henry chuckled. “Yes… I have to get ready for the morning review soon…”

Slipping out of bed, Molly made her way over to the master bathroom and relieved herself, calling out to him, “So, you review the security or…?”

Henry grinned at her question: the way that she had run into the loo was quite cute. “There’s a lot to tend to…and, if you don’t mind, one of these afternoons, I’d like to teach you how to fire a gun…”

Molly giggled at his words. “Going to put me in the patrol rotation?” she queried from the bathroom.

“I want you to be able to defend yourself” he explained.

She flushed the toilet and quickly washed her hands, stepping back into the bedroom as she said, “I thought that all I needed to do was to hide behind my big, strong Major”

Henry laughed at her boldness: she was completely naked across the way from him. “Are you trying to get a spanking, love?”

“You give spankings, too?” Molly inquired playfully, her eyes wide with joy as she returned to the bed and climbed in beside him.

“Cheeky, cheeky” Henry whispered, tapping the tip of her nose with his index finger. “I could get rough with you if you wanted, Molly… but it’s awfully early in the morning for me to start handing out corporal punishment”

“Aw” she stated, feigning disappointment. “Why did you wake me, then? Do I need to get up now?”

Henry lowered his gaze to her throat, fighting the instinctual blush that was coming to his face. “No, you can sleep for a few more hours yet… I just thought… well, last night was wonderful and I thought…”

He wanted her again. Molly couldn’t keep herself from smiling at him: he was quite shy at the moment. With her right hand, she gently guided his mouth down to hers, starting with a tender embrace…

Henry loved the feel of her tongue against his, the languid way in which she kissed him, and he responded in kind…

Molly pressed her tiny left palm to his chest, rubbing in a slow circle… then lower, lower…

He pulled back from her mouth and growled lowly as her little hand encircled his shaft. As he gazed into her eyes, Molly stroked him from base to tip, caressing the head of his cock with her palm. “Oh… fuck…” Henry whined, pressing his forehead to hers.

“Now I know why you woke me up…” she breathed, tilting her head upward so that she could lick his chin.

Her hand continued to torture him as she spoke, stroking him in a manner that had him aching in seconds. “Love, don’t tease…”

“I’m not teasing, Hen” she answered, gently tightening her grip around him.

“Oh god… darling…”

Molly pressed her lips to his right ear and pleaded, “Tell me what you want, Henry… Please tell me…”

Closing his eyes with bliss, Henry gasped and then stated, “I want to make love to you, to come inside of you, Molly… I want the two of us to come together”

“Mmm, yes” Molly responded, licking his earlobe. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer, begging him to enter her with her body language.

Henry slid inside of her, amazed at the slick heat of her sex. “You feel so good” he moaned, kissing her. “You’re so fucking perfect for me…”

Molly cried out and wrapped her arms around his neck, caressing his shoulders. “Oh god, Henry…”

“Darling… I can’t hold on…”

“Don’t want you to” Molly replied briskly. “I want you to come”

Henry nodded in agreement, wincing as his orgasm crashed down on him. He felt her little body give in along with his… the sensation was heavenly.

He could barely breathe: it had been so intense that he almost forgot that he needed to get up.

Molly tried to stop him when he moved to get up, but she couldn’t do it. “Oh, Hen… don’t…”

“Have to take a shower and do my rounds, sweetheart” Henry apologized, leaning in to kiss her. “You go back to sleep and I’ll see you later, all right?”

“Okay” Molly replied. Lying back down in bed, she watched as Henry walked to the bathroom, nude, and disappeared into the room.

She wondered what the day ahead would lead to…

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After breakfast the next morning, the four young women had a few moments alone in the drawing room.

“So…” Michelle started, batting her eyelashes coyly, “Did you girls have as much fun as I did last night?”

Christine giggled. “It was interesting, I’ll say that…”

Jennifer said nothing, just sat still in her chair.

“What about you, Molly?” Michelle queried.

“It was… nice”

Michelle snorted playfully. “I don’t know about ‘nice’… unless you mean it was nice to find these blokes are pretty ‘well equipped’, if you know what I mean”

Molly and Christine giggled along with their friend.

“Do you like the Major, Molly?” Christine inquired.

Molly nodded her head. “Yeah, I do… I really do…”

“I don’t know if I’d want to be tied to just one man” Michelle stated, wrinkling her nose. “This whole virus thing gives us a chance to have more fun, I think”

“I think I have the cook tonight” Christine blurted out.

“How do you know who and when?” Molly inquired.

“Why, your Major wrote out a schedule” Michelle answered. “It’s hanging in the radio room by the kitchen”

Molly blanched. “Seriously?”

“Why do you look so surprised? He’s a man, you know how they love to get all analytical and plan things out… Wish you were on it?”

Jennifer guffawed derisively. “Don’t be daft, Michelle… Molly’s quite happy as a one-man woman, aren’t you?”

“I had nothing to do with his choosing me” Molly defended, looking at Jennifer and feeling as if her friend were accusing her of managing to get preferential treatment.

“What the hell are you angry about, Jen?” Michelle demanded. “This is going to be fun… plus, we’re safe. We couldn’t have made it much longer on our own”

“I want to be safe… but I don’t want to be a whore at the same time”

Henry’s words came back to Molly as she sat on the couch by the fireplace, her eyes moving between her three friends, and she found herself repeating them. “We’re not whores… we’re partners in a new life. Society has to be rebuilt, and we’re doing that”

“Do you really believe that?” Christine queried.

Molly nodded. “Yes, I do… of course it’s going to be slow at first, and it might even seem pointless, but as the years go by, we’re creating the future”

Michelle and Christine seemed to go along with it, but Molly suspected it was for lustful reasons that they did so. Jennifer didn’t smile or nod: she just stared forward with a blank look on her face.

Molly didn’t think it was a good reaction… Maybe it was what the shrinks liked to call “Stockholm syndrome”, but she suddenly felt an urge to talk to Henry and relay this little bit of trouble to him.

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It was late in the afternoon when she was finally able to locate Henry and talk to him.

“Molly” he greeted, giving her a smile as he met her at the front door of the house. “Walk with me…”

She obeyed, pulling her jacket tight around her body: autumn was definitely here, and winter wasn’t far behind. She waited until they were far enough away from the other soldiers that they wouldn’t be overheard. “Jennifer is going to be a problem, Major” Molly breathed, moving along at his side. She had to walk a bit faster than usual to keep up with his long legs.

“What do you mean?” Henry asked.

They paused at a set of hay bales that looked out upon the main grounds of the house. Executed infected littered the grass like discarded beer cans.

“She’s not doing so good with the idea of a schedule” Molly replied, wrapping her arms around her body. “Michelle and Christine seem to be fine with it, but Jennifer… I don’t think it’s her cup of tea, so to speak”

“That’s unfortunate” Henry answered, putting his hands behind his back, “but it doesn’t matter. The schedule is going to stand and she’s going to follow it”

“What if she doesn’t?” Molly inquired, turning to look at Henry. In the setting sun, he looked regal, strong.

“You needn’t concern yourself with that… It’ll be taken care of”

“But, Major, if she doesn’t want to…”

Henry turned to face her, his eyes gleaming fiercely in the dying sunlight. “What she wants doesn’t matter, Molly. She’ll do as she’s told one way or another. I won’t stand for insubordination of any kind: in the early days, I was barely able to hold on to the semblance of rank and I’m not about to lose it over one pussy: and that’s all that she is, do you understand?”

Molly was shocked by his language: he seemed so much colder than he had been the night before, or even early that morning. She backed away from him, instinctually cowering at his tone. “I understand, Major”

Henry nodded curtly. “Good. Now get your ass back into the house and help get dinner ready. I expect to see you in our bedroom directly after the meal”

“Yes, Major” she responded.

Turning, Molly ran to the house, past the men who stood guard at the door and into the kitchen.

Jones, the cook, was standing in the pantry and trying to evaluate what to make for supper when Molly came bounding in. “Are you here to help?” he asked. “I could really use a hand… Are you crying, duckie?”

“My name is Molly” she retorted, wiping the tears from her face, “and yes, I’m here to help you get supper ready. Now, do you have an extra apron?”

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TBC